‘Homesick’ – The Blue and White Porcelain Exhibition by Huang Fei

​I had the great pleasure of meeting Huang Fei whilst in Jingdezhen during September and October 2015. Huang Fei taught a group of us Aussie girls the art of cobalt painting, how to hold a brush and the freedom with painting on porcelain. He was also gracious enough to invite us to his home and share his work and stories with us. I’ll never forget the trip on the way where we had been dropped off by the taxi about 1 km short of our destination so he came to pick me up on his motorbike and on the way back, with Maggie walking swiftly behind, he taught me how to count from 6 – 10 in Chinese. Whilst I was in Jingdezhen, Huang Fei had his own exhibition and below are samples of his works exhibited plus his words describing the meaning behind each work. (Deanna Roberts)

I still remember the elementary school I studied at was located on a hill. When it snowed in winter, we would roll a snowball downhill. The ball became much larger at the foot of the hill, then we would make a snowman with it. The trees and their branches were covered with ice and snow, as if they had been made of the finest jade. I liked to raise up my face, enjoying their graceful dance in the wind.

There used to be a lotus pond at the backyard of our house, with a lot of snow-white egrets flying over. At summertime, the pond would be filled with full-blown, dipper-sized white flowers. Usually, I went to watch the lotus flowers after a heavy shower. The water drops in the leaves resembled shining pearls, and the flowers like they had just woken up, blossomed suddenly in great quantity. The fragrance of the flowers and leaves permeated the whole pond.

Afterwards, I visited the Mountain Huangshan, the Mountain Lushan and the snowy mountains in Canada, yet I couldn’t help thinking about the fairyland-like small hill from my childhood. I travelled around to paint lotus and even now, I can’t forget the aroma of the pond at that backyard, the calves in the wild and the egrets in the paddy field… These are the commonest yet the most fascinating landscapes.

I used to specialize in painting Huangshan landscapes and I have been trying my best to do it, while unconsciously, I have started working at the previously mentioned subjects. Displaying a small part of the new works in my studio, staring at them, I figured out the title for this exhibition, ‘Homesick’.